/ Meditation
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It is no secret that meditation has serious and long-term positive effects on our mental and physical wellbeing.
Meditation is a phenomenon that has seen untold growth in popularity in the western world in the last few decades, but it has been utilized by civilizations the world over in some form or other for thousands of years.
Modern science is finally catching up, and we are seeing results of studies supporting the things that people have known for a long time — that meditation has tangible, quantifiable effects on the human body, and even 20 minutes a day can have a real impact.
How Meditation Helps You Make Fewer Mistakes
A study conducted by Michigan State University set out to look at how open monitoring meditation can help us to make fewer mistakes.
Some meditation works by encouraging us to focus on a single object — often breathing or mantra — and forcing all other distractions out of the mind.
In open monitoring meditation you turn inwards, consciously following your thoughts in every direction they go, maintaining mindfulness and constant awareness or where the brain has decided to wander.
The results of this study are very interesting — even 20 minutes a day of this type of meditation meant that participants were making fewer mistakes in their work, study, or personal lives.
It is believed that the increased level of self-awareness that is developed by regular use of this type of meditation allows us to pick up on mistakes as they happen, or even before, and change our behavior before the mistake comes to pass.
The Benefits of Making Fewer Mistakes
Mistakes can be costly, there’s no doubt about it. There are many benefits to undertaking open monitoring meditation to reduce the risk and severity of mistakes, here are just a few:
Increased Confidence
When we make mistakes regularly — in work or at home — our confidence can be knocked. We can feel self conscious, like other people are judging our abilities, and we can start to second guess our capacity to undertake the job at hand.
Reducing the risk of making these mistakes allows our self confidence to bloom, and even allows others to place more faith in us too.
Encourages Job Progression
One important element of our career progression is how we appear to our bosses, and those of us who make regular mistakes in work can attract attention from our superiors for unwanted reasons.
Undertaking open monitoring meditation is a way to minimize these mistakes, making us attractive candidates for promotion at work.
Supports Healthy Relationships
Often when we make mistakes it isn’t just ourselves that face the impact, but those around us, both professionally and personally. It can cause tension in relationships, and put a block between us and those we love.
When we know we are mistake-prone, showing these people that we are putting in place steps to overcome this behavior can communicate to them that our relationship is important to us, and that we are willing to work to get past problems.
The Takeaway
Meditation is an incredibly powerful tool for so many reasons, but science has shown that it is effective at helping us to make fewer mistakes. Why not give open monitoring meditation a go and see if it can help you at work or at home?
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